Machining BEP .70 a/r housing to fit HX52

[Boostdriven]

So I decided to give this a try and see how well it will work. I'll be putting this turbo on Tristen's car (aka dsmcurse). Got the first machining stage done yesterday so now I have to do some fab work with the v-band and then back to the shop for the final machining. I'm hoping to get this done before the next dyno day on Friday May 3rd but we will see, I got few other things to do as well. If I don't get it done by next Friday we are going to dyno his car with a 6 blade HX40 that he has now and then later with the HX52, so it might be nice to see the comparison between the two turbos. I'll post few pictures later of what I got done so far and I'll keep updating them as I go.

Looking at my pressure ratios (33psi boost/25psi drive) from my HX40 19cm housing that I made for my car I think I should see similar results with this housing considering I ported the shit out of it. My guess I should still be able to keep the drive pressure lower then boost. The exhaust wheel from the HX52 fits nicely in to this housing, almost like it was made for it I'll keep you guys updated on this set up.

Here are some pictures of the first stage machining

 

[dsmcurse]

watch out for the first ever HX52 on a T3 frame, were gonna kick some major ass this summer with this set-up!

 

[Miasma]

Looks very cool, I'm interested to see how well it spools up.

I could be wrong but wouldn't having a t4 twin scroll housing be better for the hx52? What kind of manifold are you using?

 

[Boostdriven]

He has the same exhaust manifold that I have, its a custom built ram horn style. Part of the reason why I'm using this housing is because for the most part it will be a direct replacement to his HX40 with .70 a/r housing. This housing should spool faster then the factory 16cm2 housing that comes with the HX52 without sacrificing full potential of the turbo.

 

[Miasma]

Being able to swap out turbo's quickly will be really nice. Be sure to post up a dyno of that beast.

 

[dsmcurse]

ya if a guy already had a T3 flange turbo header and a V-band down pipe, then yeah, its a true direct bolt up HX52, F#CK YEAH!

 

[99ECLIPSEGSXDSM]

Can't wait to see the results

 

[Devilsfutbol17]

Where are you guys going to for an AWD dyno in Pasco? I heard they were getting one at CBC, but I don't know what happened with that.

 

[dsmcurse]

my boss where i work is personal friends with an auto instructor at CBC. So my boss set us up with this guy Monty, we got there and showed him our two cars and he was so impressed that not only did he let us strap down are own cars AND RUN THEM ON THE DYNO (which is un-heard of at ANY dyno shop) but he also gave us an open inventation to come back and kick some ass free of charge! gotta love that!

 

[Devilsfutbol17]

Ah I gotcha, good deal.

 

[Killa_dsm]

Can't wait to see how it turns out. Keep us posted as I'm interested in how it performs.

 

[Boostdriven]

I should have the housing ready for the final machining early next week, I'll definitely keep you guys posted on the progress and the results.

 

[ceedawg]

I should have the housing ready for the final machining early next week, I'll definitely keep you guys posted on the progress and the results.

Wow so looking forward to this brother!!!

 

[Boostdriven]

I got the housing ready for final machining, here are few pictures of the progess. Taking it back to my friends machine shop on monday so looks like the car should be ready for the dyno on friday.

 

[Raymond1927]

I love the step by step photos. What size rod did you use? OOoo ya this ishit shit right here is badass. I though this wasn't even possible.

 

[Boostdriven]

I use 308L stainless steel rod, all the other pieces are 304 stainless. The welding par is easy, you just have to make sure you heat the shit out of that housing before you weld it. The hard part is to figure out all the step heights so then when I machine the final time everything sits like it suppose to.

 

[dsmcurse]

This guy is the one true wizard! Nuff said!

 

[Miasma]

That looks great, it certainly coming along. Can't wait to see it put together on the car.

 

[spendone]

I machined a bep housing to accept a hx50 about 9 years ago. Only downside was that the turbo didnt like all the back pressure produced in the housing. This was a bolt on .55 housing. It constantly snapped the shaft after a months use. I tried it with 3 different hx50's.

 

[dsmcurse]

ya but this is a BEP .70 ar housing thats T3 in and 3" v-band out, not to mention this housing is fully ported as much as it can go, the turbo will be hung on a nicely built ram-horn style turbo header. because this turbo is not gonna be twin scroll but a single throat/scroll the turbo header feeds the single scroll turbine housing through a massive reverse plenum often called a merge collector but this is seriously more of a plenum that breathes into the turbine housing.

the down pipe is 3"v-band (flex pipe just beyond the oil pan) but the 3" down pipe has 60mm external wastegate mounted and used as a boost activated exhaust cut-out. the "cat-less" exhaust back to the apexi N1 muffler is 3" pipe, BUT, thats soon to be upgraded to 3.5" back to the muffler. a 3.5" down pipe is sorta out of the question do to fitment issues but the boost activated exhaust cut out should make it 3.5" equivelent.

Alex tells me this exhaust housing teamed with this paticular turbo is just about %100 same as HX40 on the bep .55 ar housing thats mitsu in mitsu out flange housing that hasnt yet been ported. i see bep 55 housing making hx 40 direct bolt up and the hx40 lives inside of a rather small turbine housing given how big the hx40 trully is. so whats the differance if a hx52 is stuffed into the big 'ol bep .70 ar housing thats T3 in V-band out and fully ported?

i deffinatley do not fore-see any shaft breaking with this set-up. i expect back pressure to be within perfect spec considering the nice turbo header and exhaust sytem thats gonna be used in conjunction with this T3 HX-52 turbo. we'll have a E-MAP sensor logging drive pressure. I'll gladly post a pic of a data log and I'll kill all the gauges except RPM, OMNI 4bar MAP and the E-MAP sensor. im expecting the picture to look like this, 8000RPM, 35PSI BOOST, 25ish PSI BACK PRESSURE.

.

 

[spendone]

Not knocking what your doing. Just letting you know that I tried the same thing but in a smaller housing. There were no options of any other style housings at the time aside from bolt on mitsu flanges. I hope it works for you and if it does then Great! Back when I tried this BEP was only offering T04E turbos and the holset stuff wasnt even really as much of a thought in the DSM community.

 

[Boostdriven]

I think that HX50 has a 7mm bigger exhaust wheel then the HX52, I can only imagine what it looks like in that .55 housing maybe the reason why it kept snapping shafts was because there were a lot more pressure on one side of that wheel due to how small that housing is. I'm sure EGTs were through the roof, nevertheless a well worth theory put to the test, best knowledge comes from experience

I've looked at several different housing in that size range and this one seems to be my favorite one. I like how it has a large opening in the throat and then as it wraps around the wheel it retains a larger chamber all the way around, of course it gradually shrinks but not as much as some of the other housings. Another thing I like is that the chamber inside is round instead of egg shaped like garrett. I think it has a better shaped passage for exhaust from the chamber in to the wheel. It might look a little funny sitting next to that massive compressor cover but I'm sure it will do the job well. We should have the car up and running by about the middle of the week.

 

[Boostdriven]

Delete. Double post.

 

[Boostdriven]

Well I got the housing machined today, everything lined up perfectly. I still need to modify the compressor cover outlet, what's on there right now is like 3.25" so a coupler does not fit over it. I'll have to cut that off and well different piece on there. I'm thinking we should be out on Thursday tuning the car.

Here are some pictures of the finished product. The last picture of the housing shows how much I ported it. Normally you wouldn't be able to see the exhaust wheel but I ported it towards the top making the bottom of the funnel larger. In my experience I've noticed that doing that drops your drive pressure a bit therefore more top end HP. The picture of my ugly hand drawing is what I normally port on the housing, the area that is not shaded is what I remove

 

[dsmcurse]

That huge compressor cover teamed with that small turbine housing reminds me of a FP , at least it has a REAL exhaust wheel in it tho....